


we were given so much and we let it go

by tarquin



Category: The Creatures (Youtube RPF)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 07:54:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2143047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarquin/pseuds/tarquin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They line up just outside the terminal. Like a police lineup, like a family watching a coffin being lowered into the ground.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we were given so much and we let it go

**Author's Note:**

> "but you look so good when you're laughing, you know."

The video will be called "Sly's Final Farewell" and really, honestly, they try not to make it the most somber thing they've ever shot.

For convenience's sake they all gather at the office beforehand, it's where they'll return once they're done, and as Dan swivels the camera around from person to person the air is stifled, forced smiles and heavy hands giving polite waves all around. Half of the boys park it on the couch with their hands defeatedly dropped in their laps while the other half meander around, like they haven't been in this place for eight months, like it's a stranger to them now. Like walking past the place where Sly's office was and seeing the fairy lights torn down, the wall of pokemon cards removed, makes this place an entirely different building to them all together.

"Are you excited?" Dan asks full of saccharine zeal, zooming in on where Sly stands next to the door. He, to his credit, Hype Creature to the end, tacks on the widest smile he can and gives the camera a big thumbs up. The thing is he is excited, probably the most excited he's ever actually been.

But beside his feet Chef whines in the crate she'll be flying over in. Aleks from across the room criss-crosses his fingers in his lap, not looking up. Jordan checks the clock again for the thousandth time and says "Okay, we should get going soon."

No one moves an inch.

Every step forward makes it more and more real, and no one wants to lift their feet again.

"Well then, let's go." Sly says, flashing the camera another grin. He reaches for the door. No one moves for a second. Some grip the couch tighter. Then James takes a step towards the door as well and the others follow, and no one says a thing.

//

The drive is even worse than sitting around at the office, if that's possible. They all pile into one big car and the mood is just as grim as before. They can't fill the somber silence with the radio, not while Dan films, and any polite conversation dies out before it even starts. What is there to say, really, that hasn't been said before? He's going. That's it.

Sly sits in the back, leaned against a window and looking out of it wistfully. Behind them in the trunk space, Chef lets out a long whine, pawing at the metal grate in front of her. Seamus checks behind him a few times to make sure she's okay and the only thing the camera audio picks up is Sly comforting her.

"It's okay, baby girl." He says. "This will all be over soon."

A little more than halfway through the drive Dan shuts off the camera, having wrung every ounce of conversation or enthusiasm out of the group and tired of filming drab faces. Jordan, from the driver's seat, gives him a look.

"This probably won't be made into a video, will it?" He asks quietly.

Dan shakes his head. "No."

//

They line up just outside the terminal. Like a police lineup, like a family watching a coffin being lowered into the ground. The world moves all around them rapidly, people coming and going and shouting their complaints about food and having to pee. But for once, The Creatures don't find themselves a part of that calamity.

They didn't purposely line up like the Von Trapp family, it just kind of happened when someone stopped walking and the others fell in line, feet pausing just a few yards away from the place where they can go no further. When, out of their party of six, only one will move forward.

Dan, to his credit, films the entire thing like no one is on edge, like everything is okay. Sly, from the back of the herd, approaches him first.

First, he looks inside the camera and says hello to Florida, I love you, I'll see you soon. Tall windows behind him showcase the airport and when he loudly announces "I love you, BYE!" Dan takes it as a cue to stop filming. He drops his hand to his side and Sly watches him, grin ever-present.

 

Dan wears a sadder smile of course, and professionalism leads him to offer his hand for a goodbye shake. One that Sly deftly ignores of course, as he pulls him into a squeezing hug instead. Dan returns it gladly, patting him on the back and letting a "Thanks," slip through tight teeth, coarse and packed with other things he doesn't know how to say, or even fully sure of all that he's thanking him for.

Sly looks at him, eyes already shiny and doomed, and nods. 

 

James is next, and he'll be okay. Moreover, he knows that everything else will be okay. When Sly's absence starts to settle like dust on the ground, when people call for him even though he's a thousand and a half miles away and there are pauses in conversations where his laugh should be, James will still be there and he'll get them through. Sly knows this, and he is grateful.

James says thank you as well, in the midst of his suffocating hug. He squeezes him back, tight, and tells him very quietly that he'll be missed. He doesn't do it to break Sly's heart or anything, he's just telling the truth. But he takes the light punch on his shoulder with a laugh all the same.

 

Seamus stands next to him, face expressionless. Sly can't help it, he drops a hand on either of the boy's shoulders, he'll miss their streams. The good times they had together.

Seamus won't look at him. He frowns instead at the place just to the left and above of Sly's right ear, and even when Sly gives him a tiny "Seamus, come on," he still won't give in.

"I'm not saying goodbye." He humphs when Sly continues to prod at him. "I'm not saying goodbye. This isn't the last time i'm seeing you and so I'm not gonna say it, so."

That brings Sly close, his adam's apple bobs with a hard swallow.

Luckily though, Seamus doesn't protest when he's assimilated into a hug. For a moment he just stands, receiving, saying nothing. But then sure enough and after enough time, heavy arms pull up and wrap around Sly's frame and gently squeeze back. Seamus sinks his face tight against Sly's shoulder, and Sly is the first to pull away.

He gives him a soft look. "I'll see you around, okay?"

"Yeah." Seamus says. "Okay."

 

Aleks watches this, watches all of this, with a face that is trying to be expressionless and cool but fails miserably to do so, as Aleks' faces often do. Instead when Sly gets to him, heart pounding and cheeks a little damp, he takes one look at the way the boy is pouting and an honest giggle works its way out of his chest, the first one so far.

"Aleks," Sly says softly. His tone is gentle, careful. Aleks responds with the smallest of head nods, waiting for the worst. "You look like you have to poop."

James, from two people down, laughs, and the others can't help but crumble as well. They turn to see where Aleks frowns deeper, then lets it twist into a smile.

"You're an asshole." He says. Sly says "I know."

And when Sly swaths him into his own hug he says nothing, but he's swallowing hard and his lips twitch uselessly. When Sly pulls away Aleks looks at him like he's got an entire novel to say, thank you's and goodbyes and a few more insults to boot, but Sly just pulls him close again.

"I'll text you later." He says. "We'll talk later."

And that does it for Aleks, as his drops his head and the ridges of his nose start to brighten. He looks up again, fast, catching himself as he says "Sure."

But when Sly turns away his eyes are on the ground, fast.

 

Jordan stands at the end, a proud patriarch watching over his brood.

He's got the softest eyes of them all and his silence has been conspicuous throughout the entire trip. Now he offers a hand to Sly before he gets hugged, and Sly, almost duty-bound, takes it.

"You did so much for us." He says, tone even at first. "You were an amazing member of this group. Of this family." That's when his voice starts to wobble. "You did a lot of great things and. And we'll miss you."

How Jordan is the first to break outright, no one knows. But he swallows hard. After his voice cracked on "Miss you" he'd just been done for, and now a couple light, quick tears slide fast down his left cheek.

 _"Hordan."_ Sly groans, rolling his eyes like he's not crying back. Like he's not sniffling or fighting to keep his lip from wobbling too hard. He grabs Jordan and pulls him in tight, shaking him back and forth and ducking his head as far into the boy's shoulder as he can. This time it's him who has to fight to keep it together.

But all he gets are Jordan's arms around him, squeezing him with finality. When Sly pulls away Jordan's hands go with him, resting atop his shoulders.

His eyes are still glistening as he says "Hey, don't be a stranger, okay?"

"I won't." Sly is able to say quickly before going back to biting his tongue. "I won't. I won't."

Jordan gives him a sad smile, then pats him on the shoulder one more time. His head swivels to check a clock above them and when he looks back all eyes are on Sly, most of them red or wet or both, all of them full to bursting with sadness and love.

"Then. You'd better get going." Jordan says, and it breaks something in all of them. It breaks something in Sly as well.

"Okay." He says, stepping away from the group. Away from where they stand, clustered against the rest of the world. Towards Florida that can't wait to see him. Towards the rest of his everything.

They watch, all motionless and silent for a moment more, before Sly looks at all of them and says "Thank you too."

Then he takes a deep breath. He pulls off his glasses and rubs at the corners of his eyes. He readjusts his shirt, wrinkled and out of place from all the hugging. On a whim, he gives them a tight little salute, but he can't waste time forever and the voice overhead warns him not to be late.

Sly releases his breath and turns away, towards boarding, and he doesn't look back.

**Author's Note:**

> ):


End file.
